The latest to play international hide-and-seek are a mother and daughter from Canada who aroused suspicion last Sunday when U.S. officials conducting a random search found $15,000 in undeclared Canadian currency in the older woman’s purse. The two were then subjected to a pat-down, which revealed curious lumps in both their bras. When the garments were removed, agents discovered the bras were padded … with cash: $59,000 in all.

The Detroit Free Press identifies the pair (of women, that is) as Moura El-Asmar, 51, and Jacinta El-Asmar, 18. According to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday in Detroit federal court, the women were en route to Detroit Metro Airport, where they planned to catch a flight for Lebanon to visit family.

The mother told officers that she hid the money because she feared it might be stolen from her. She also said that she didn’t want her boyfriend — who was the driver that day — to know how much money she had. The source of the income, she further maintained, was disability checks and a paper route, and, in her daughter’s case, babysitting.

A background check on the elder El-Asmar shows she had twice been arrested for theft, making her inadmissible for entry into the United States in any case. She was charged with bulk cash smuggling and making false statements to a federal agent. The daughter was not charged.

Howard Portnoy has written for The Blaze, HotAir, NewsBusters, Weasel Zippers, Conservative Firing Line, RedCounty, and New York’s Daily News. He has one published novel, Hot Rain, (G. P. Putnam’s Sons), and has been a guest on Radio Vice Online with Jim Vicevich, The Alana Burke Show, Smart Life with Dr. Gina, and The George Espenlaub Show.

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